A storm of speculation ahead of the anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 on Tuesday has set social media abuzz, with military veterans, Right-wing commentators and Kashmir politicians asking the Centre to proceed with caution amid growing chatter of a major announcement.

Rumour mills in Kashmir have been abuzz with talk of statehood restoration either to the entire Jammu and Kashmir or to the Jammu region in August, possibly on the sixth anniversary of the scrapping of the special status on Tuesday, in the absence of an official word from the Centre.

More so after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the middle of the monsoon session of Parliament on Sunday.

Army veterans, police officers and Right-wing commentators have joined the debate only to plead with the Centre against granting statehood, lending fresh heft to the debate.

Iltija Mufti, PDP leader and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter, suggested something drastic was in the offing, apparently referring to rumours that the Union Territory could be split again.

“Exactly six years ago, ominous clouds of uncertainty hung over Kashmir on August 4, 2019. Since a week now, hushed whispers suggest something drastic yet again is in the offing. Insinuations dressed in metaphors and dark humour. ‘Dapaan (Kashmiri metaphor meaning it is being said to deflect blame)’ at the beginning of every sentence,” she wrote on X.

Lt General (retired) K.J.S. Dhillon, who served as director-general of the Defence Intelligence Agency, said there was a lot of speculation about a possible announcement on Tuesday and asked the Centre not to rush to any decision.

“The peace in Kashmir has come about at a great cost of human lives of security forces personnel and innocent civilians. It’s fragile still, as was evident from the Pahalgam terror attack,” he wrote on X.

Chief minister Omar Abdullah posted on X: "I’ve heard every possible permutation & combination about what to expect in J&K tomorrow so let me stick my neck out and say nothing will happen tomorrow — fortunately nothing bad will happen but unfortunately nothing positive will happen either. I’m still optimistic about something positive for J&K in this monsoon session of Parliament but not tomorrow. And no, I haven’t had any meetings or conversations with people in Delhi. This is just a gut feeling. Let’s see this time tomorrow."

NC president Farooq Abdullah said he wanted to know from Modi about the Union government’s timeline for restoring statehood.